Britain’s Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) and Singapore’s Hong Leong Group (豐隆集團) have announced plans to invest in Taiwan’s hotel industry.
IHG last week signed deals to open hotels in Xiamen, China, Hong Kong and Taipei, adding more than 700 rooms to its Asia-Pacific portfolio.
TAIPEI EXPANSION
Its Holiday Inn Express brand will be the banner establishment for a 170-room Taipei development that will open next year, while a 300-room property in Mongkok in Hong Kong is set to be unveiled in 2013, the -Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported yesterday.
Its boutique brand, Indigo, will open branches in two locations next year, including a 125-room hotel in Taipei and another 127-room establishment in Xiamen, China.
The Taiwanese expansion is part of a plan by IHG, the world’s biggest hotel group by number of rooms, to increase its presence in its Greater China portfolio, which includes markets in China, Mongolia and Taiwan.
HONG LEONG
Meanwhile, Hong Leong — a conglomerate with businesses spanning hotel management, financial services and real estate — said it would invest in three hotels in Taipei and Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) in Nantou County, with the first deal expected to be signed by next month. With partners MarkWell Group (午陽企業集團), its first hotel project in Taiwan will be launched in the fourth quarter next year, it said.
NEW MARKET: The partnership opens up India to the Dutch company, which already has a strong hold in the semiconductor market of South Korea, Taiwan and China ASML Holding NV entered into a partnership agreement with Tata Electronics Pvt Ltd aimed at ramping up India’s goal to develop domestic chip-manufacturing capabilities. The Dutch company’s technology would help power Tata Electronics’ planned 300 millimeter (mm) semiconductor foundry in Gujarat, according to a joint statement from the two companies on Saturday. The signing of a memorandum of understanding coincides with a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Netherlands, which is looking to deepen bilateral relations with New Delhi. ASML, whose top customers include Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co, makes lithography machines that can print
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The Hsinchu County Government’s Labor Affairs Department yesterday said that it has received a plan from cosmetics brand Taiwan Shiseido Co (台灣資生堂) detailing mass layoffs at its plant in Hukou Township (湖口). While the labor authorities did not disclose the number of employees to be laid off, Japanese news media earlier in the day reported that the closure of the company’s factory in Hukou would result in 170 employees losing their jobs. Shiseido followed the law by reporting its layoff plan, the department said, adding that authorities would closely monitor negotiations between the management and affected employees and step in if any
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Tuesday confirmed a cyberattack targeting some of its North American facilities, but said the affected factories were gradually returning to normal. The company, known globally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), said that its cybersecurity team “activated the response mechanism and implemented operational measures to ensure the continuity of production and delivery.” “The affected factories are resuming normal production,” the company said in a statement. Hon Hai had previously described it as a “technical issue,” when news of the cyberattack first surfaced. The confirmation followed media reports of a large-scale information technology system incident that broke out at